Inspiring young artists

DTSB holiday contest draws entrants of all ages

December 04, 2011|By HEIDI PRESCOTT | South Bend Tribune

South Bend Tribune/HEIDI PRESCOTT

SOUTH BEND - Eight-year-old Annice Barber-Petroff almost gave up threetimes, and when you see the detail in the gingerbread treehouse shecreated for a local holiday competition up close, you understand why.

Instead of starting with a prebaked house from a kit, Annice used analuminum tin can to serve as the mold for the trunk of her homemadegingerbread treehouse.

“It sunk a little when it was baking,” Annice said, pointing to thebase of the tree as she rotated the Lazy Susan on which it restedamong a few dozen entries.

With marshmallow and Chicklet presents, taffy chairs, a woven licoricerug and gingerbread men inside, Annice made her treehouse accessiblefrom a red rope licorice ladder leading to a dried vegetable chippath.

Pretzel rod limbs stick out of the tree, which is surrounded by andcovered with frosting snow. A ground coffee trail leads toward a bluefrosting pond filled with cheese cracker fish, above which you see adangling gummy ring tire swing.

“I thought about using a doughnut, but it was too heavy,” she said Sunday.

Annice also looked quite proud of the more traditional gingerbreadhouse her little sister, Angeline, 5, submitted in the sixth annualSanta’s Gingerbread Village Competition sponsored by Downtown SouthBend, Inc.

Each year the contest draws entrants of all ages.

“It looked fun to do,” Angeline said as she pointed out the Skittles,mints, candy hearts, candy cane sprinkles, coconut, sugar cones, andother sweets on and around her first-ever holiday house. “And it’s funto lick your hands from the frosting.”

Big sister Annice is a veteran; this is her fourth gingerbread creation.

After being judged at 10 a.m. Saturday, their houses will remain ondisplay at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown South Bendthrough Christmas Eve.

Annice’s treehouse took her about a week to complete, after shecontemplated several designs over several months and made a cardboardmockup, that is. While the amount of time and detail the projectcomprised nearly caused her to quit, it also kept her going.

Something else, too.

Or someone.

“Mommy,” she declared.

Their mom, also Annice, said the gingerbread houses have become atradition every year, and the contest is only an extra incentive tothe family project. Their dad, Neil, is charged with safelytransporting the houses from location to location.

From the day after Thanksgiving until they delivered the houses to thecompetition last week, their kitchen was used for nothing butgingerbread.

“It’s a huge project for an 8-year-old, but I’m glad Annice didn’tgive up when she thought about it,” their mom said proudly.

“It teaches them to be responsible and creative. And there are lifelessons — how you will feel when something is done if you have stuckwith it. That feeling of accomplishment even when something is hard todo.”

The sisters are among the 26-and-counting entries in the competition,which is sponsored by Downtown South Bend, Inc. Among the otherentries, visitors will see traditional houses covered in everythingfrom gumdrops to cereal to pumpkin seeds, and other structures, too.

One building looks like a church, and other contains walls that looklike a maze.

“While the number tends to stay about the same, the size of theindividual entries has grown,” says Julie Curtis, DTSB director ofmarketing. “There are some very elaborate and large villages. Peopleare taking their entries to a whole new level with custom designs andalso creating multiple houses.”

Angeline plans to create another house next year. So does the thirdBarber-Petroff daughter, Sarah, who is 3.

As for Annice? She said, “I’m never going to retire.”

One of the reasons might just be the fun and laughter surrounding howthey demolish their gingerbread houses on New Year’s Day. With amischievous grin, Annice said, “We smash them with a hammer.”